No Time To Die is the final installment of Daniel Craig's Bond tenure, with the agent's fleeting retirement at the start of the film providing a link to old-school Bond in GoldenEye. Like many previous installments, No Time To Die featured several nods to previous Bond movies, including perhaps most notably On Her Majesty's Secret Service. However, with the titular character's retirement plan, the movie also hinted at something beyond the world of the fictional super spy.
No Time To Die was released in 2021 and features the iconic agent having an early retirement at the beginning of the film. The retirement doesn't last long though, with Bond being dragged back into the world of espionage to confront his loved one's past. GoldenEye, however, was the 17th installment in the Bond franchise, starring Pierce Brosnan in his first appearance as the famous spy. Despite being released over 25 years before No Time To Die, the two Bond adventures have a bizarre link. This link comes from Bond's retirement in the latter, a link involving the author of the James Bond books, Ian Fleming.
In No Time To Die, Bond retires towards the beginning of the film after believing his lover, Madeleine, betrayed him. In his apparent betrayal, Bond takes his leave from MI6 and lives in a villa in Jamaica, lacking the thrill of his previous life. It is in Bond's choice of country to retire in, that the connection with GoldenEye is found. Ian Fleming, the author of the franchise, built a house and estate on the site of an old donkey race track, naming the property Goldeneye. The estate was built on Oracabessa bay, on the northern coastline of Jamaica. The property is now used as the Goldeneye Hotel and Resort, consisting of Fleming's original house and several cottages. With James Bond, Agent 007, choosing to retire in Jamaica in No Time To Die, it was no doubt a conscious choice by the filmmakers to have Bond's retirement mirror that of Fleming's.
The film doesn't spend a whole lot of time in Jamaica, however. While Bond himself retires for around five years, it is only briefly shown before he reunites with Felix Leiter, Jeffrey Wright's FBI agent. This is how Bond becomes embroiled back in the world of international espionage, going on an adventure that includes his former lover, Madeleine, and her dark secrets of the past. With Craig's Bond often shown to have links to other countries though, such as Italy due to his emotional time with Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale, it is obvious the decision of making him retire to Jamaica was intentional. This not only mirrors the choice of residence of Ian Fleming himself but pays respect to the man who created the iconic character of James Bond in the first place.
While Bond's retirement was cut short, it can be seen as being for the better, with Craig's final outing as the MI6 agent being praised as one of the actor's finest. No Time To Die was very well received and gave Daniel Craig's Bond the swan song he deserved. While the Bond franchise has featured a wide variety of locations from all around the world, the inclusion of Jamaica as a retirement location for Bond was heartwarming, to say the least, allowing No Time To Tie to pay a fitting to tribute to both Daniel Craig's James Bond, and the man who created him: Ian Fleming.